Peter Stefan has buried murderers, rapists and child molesters. On Friday, to the chagrin of people searching for knee-jerk outrage, the body of his first killer terrorist chilled in a cooler in the basement of his Main Street funeral home.

“I never really thought it would get this kind of attention,” said Stefan, standing in the doorway of Graham Putnam & Mahoney Funeral Parlors, the latest media stronghold in The Story That Won’t Die. “Bad people get buried all the time, and this is what I do. Who do you think drives the hearse? Mickey Mouse?”

Of course, the late Tamerlan Tsarnaev is no ordinary bad guy. He’s the Boston Marathon bombing suspect who was killed April 19 in a dramatic shootout with police in Watertown. Thursday night, two of Stefan’s employees picked up the body from a North Attleboro funeral home. By early Friday, the media scrum had shifted to Main South, along with police and protesters who are angry that the infamous corpse ended up here.

Even a news helicopter circled overhead, perhaps in case the body re-animates.

“I hope you’re happy!” neighborhood activist Billy Breault told Stefan, before slamming the door of the funeral home. Later, on the sidewalk across the street, Breault said Stefan made a “big mistake” by accepting remains few communities are willing to take.

“I don’t care where he goes, but he doesn’t belong here,” Breault fumed, in one of the only known cases of NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) that involves a decomposing corpse. “We got everything here — prostitution, the mentally ill, the homeless. And now we have a dead terrorist.”

Well, at least he’ll be no drain on the social service network. And what exactly would satisfy these protestors? Should we drag his body through the streets? Lay him out on Belmont Hill and let crows pluck out his eyeballs? I know — how about city officials demand in the host agreement with the slots developers that they take the body?

Stefan said he’s tried without success to find a place willing to accept the remains. There are no Muslim cemeteries in Worcester, and as of Friday afternoon, Stefan said he can’t find one in the state willing to bury him. He said he’s even spoken with officials in Russia, where many of the protestors believe the remains should be sent.

“What does it say that even his own country doesn’t want him?” said Dorrie Maynard, who wore a “Boston Strong” baseball cap. “This is pathetic. It’s wrong. I’m shocked there’s not more people here. He killed Americans on American soil at a patriotic event. What more needs to be said?”

Lots, apparently. For example, I don’t recall anyone protesting the doctor who saved the life of Tsarnaev’s wounded younger brother. And I doubt the lawyer representing him will receive much blowback, because we’re not barbarians and understand that even heinous killers are entitled to legal representation.

Stefan, who has long provided funeral services for the poor and unwanted, was unaffected by the protests. Like the rest of us, he’s well aware of the horror and heartache caused by Tsarnaev.

“I can’t really separate the sin from the sinner,” he said. “But I took an oath. Who buried Lee Harvey Oswald? Who buried Timothy McVeigh or Jeffrey Dahmer? We even washed Osama Bin Laden, and he killed a hell of a lot more people than this guy.”

Few people have shed a tear over the death of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, with good reason. The man was a coldblooded, cowardly killer who took the lives of innocent people. But now he’s gone, and we’re better than our darker angels who now demand no dignity for the dead.

“I run a business, and I’ve stepped up to the plate to do the right thing,” Stefan said. “Let’s just get this over with, and move on.”

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